1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a headrest assembly including a headrest guide and/or a headrest insert for permitting the sliding movement of a vehicle headrest with minimal efforts.
2. Description of Related Art
Automobiles and other vehicles typically include headrests located on the seatbacks to support and/or brace the head and neck of the passenger. Headrests are generally adjustable to accommodate passengers of different heights and body types. An important factor in adjustability of the height of headrests are the efforts required to move the headrest between horizontal positions.
In general, headrests have support rods that are slideably adjustable within guides in the seat. If the guides or the support rods are misaligned, the efforts required to adjust the headrest significantly increase. Mori et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,094, and Collier et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,928, are typical of the prior art wherein a rigid cross bar is positioned between support rods within the headrest.
Wallis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,658, and Koike, U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,634, are typical of the prior art having two separate holders or sleeves for accepting the support rods of the headrest. The separate holders or sleeves are generally positioned within supports welded on to the seat frame. Much of the variability in conventional headrest assemblies results from the variability in the welded supports on the seat frame.
The above described arrangements may result in misalignment of the support rods and/or the holders or sleeves for accepting the support rods. When such misalignment occurs, the headrest may become difficult to slide with respect to the seat because the centerlines of the support rods are not aligned with the centerlines of the channels of the holders or sleeves accepting the support rods.
Therefore, there is a need for one or more individual components within a headrest assembly that permit self-adjusting and/or aligned sliding engagement between headrest rods and the guides for accepting the headrest rods.